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Marchland is a 172 page modern fantasy setting book for Savage Worlds that mixes a familiar modern world with magic, mysticism and fae mythology. The book is published by Hearthstone Games and includes both an attractive full color pdf version as well as a printer friendly pdf.

The setting evokes a Dresden Files feel though it shares even more DNA with Changeling: The Dreaming. In fact, the overall approach is very much reminiscent of the early World of Darkness books in that the game world is very similar to our own but is slightly off. Most of earth's denizens are oblivious to the magical goings on around them and the player characters are immersed in the majesty of a world that is much more rich and fantastic than it would seem on the surface.

To be clear, and fair, this isn't just a facsimile of either of those properties with the serial numbers filed off. There has been a good amount of work done to establish a unique world and the setting offers a lot of original material for both GM's and players to explore. Hearthstone Games has created a city called Brighton Bay that serves as a central hub for the setting and there's plenty of great stuff here to run interesting games for a long time. Furthermore, the book delves deeply into Faery groups and culture and offers a robust amount of information about them. The setting's writer, Mark Woodside, first divides them up into the European Fae and the native American Manitou, and then further explores them from there.

It should be noted that if you just wanted to use the material in Marchland to run a Dresden or Changeling game, you'd be in good shape!

Marchland, while fully compatible with core Savage Worlds, does make a few changes in an effort to create a unique feel for the setting. The magic system shrugs off Power Points in favor of a casting modifier and the character creation section is much more robust to account for the creation of unique Fae and Revenant (ghost) player characters.

This is a cool setting. There'a a lot to like and despite the fact that there are a ton of SW settings Hearthstone Games has succeeded in filling a void in the Savage Worlds lineup. Even if you don't want to use the book as a complete setting, you'll find plenty here to mull over and enrich your setting. This one is definitely worth a look!

A great setting for Savage Worlds. Reminded me of the series Lost Girl.

I liked the alternate rules for Arcane Backgrounds, using modifiers to the Skill checks rather then Power Point costs means less book keeping. But my favorite was the character creation system for Fae characters! Really well written. I'm looking forward to running it with my group.